[docs]
Get started
Burnstate lives in your menu bar and watches the limits of your AI coding tools. Install it, take the one-minute tour, and connect the first tool you want to keep an eye on.
Burnstate runs on any Mac with macOS 15 Sequoia or later. It’s available on Setapp, which includes a 7-day free trial, and coming soon to the Mac App Store as a one-time purchase.
You can also get Burnstate straight from burnstate.dev, with a license you buy once or a subscription, from USD 3.99 a month.
Download it
Download the DMG from burnstate.dev, open it, and drag Burnstate to your Applications folder.
Open it
Open Burnstate. It asks for a license key before it shows your usage.
Buy a license
Buy a key at burnstate.dev/#pricing for 1, 2 or 3 Macs. Pay once from USD 49.99, or subscribe from USD 3.99 a month or USD 24.99 a year. Creem emails you the key.
Activate it
Paste the key in the welcome tour’s license step, or later in Settings › License.
Or get it on Setapp:
Get it on Setapp
Open Burnstate on Setapp and select Install. Setapp downloads the app and keeps it up to date.
Open it
Open Burnstate from Setapp or your Applications folder. It has no Dock icon: it opens its welcome tour, then lives in the menu bar.
The first time Burnstate opens, a short tour shows what it does, one idea per step: pace, sessions, permissions, widgets, notifications and Cooldown. Select Continue, or press → and ← to move between steps. Skip tour jumps straight to the notifications step.
Three steps ask you something:
- Notifications. Notice cards stay off until you turn them on. Select Turn on notifications, or Not now to leave them off. You can change this later in settings.
- Your day. Cooldown is on from the start. Set when to take a break, eat and stop, or select Turn off on the Cooldown step. You can change it later in Cooldown.
- Open Burnstate at login. The last step checks this box for you, so Ember is in the menu bar after every restart. Clear it if you’d rather open Burnstate yourself.
If nothing is connected yet, the last button reads Connect a provider and opens the panel on Add provider. Otherwise it reads Open Burnstate.
Ember is the little flame at the top of your screen. Click it to open the panel with your limits and sessions, and click it again or press esc to close it. Its face tells you how things are going before you open anything:
| [ember looks] | [it means] |
|---|---|
Eyes open, a spark | Working: an agent session is running. |
A “!” beside it | Needs you: an agent is waiting for an answer. |
Squinting, a sweat drop | Burning fast: a limit is ahead of its clock or running low. |
X eyes, smoke | Limit hit: a provider is out of usage. |
Eyes shut, a “z” | Dozing: nothing is running. |
When the menu bar shows one provider, Ember’s face follows that provider’s limits. Otherwise it follows the one closest to running out. Next to Ember, the menu bar can show a percent for one limit. Which limit, and whether there’s a percent at all, is up to you in settings.
The panel has two tabs at the top, providers and sessions, and four buttons on the right:
| [button] | [opens] | [shortcut] |
|---|---|---|
Setapp mark | ⌘I | |
Flame | ⌘B | |
Plus | Add provider | ⌘N |
Gear | ⌘, |
The footer shows when the numbers were last updated, with a reload button beside it, and quit to quit Burnstate (⌘Q). Burnstate refreshes your limits every five minutes on its own.
Open the panel and select the plus button, or press ⌘N. Pick the tool you use and select [connect]. If it’s already signed in on your Mac, that’s all. Connect providers walks through each one.